The vigor and
tenacity of life in a tree is determined largely
by the soil in which it grows. I lived for many
years in a State where the soil is fertile, the
ground level, and where beech trees were very
numerous. I had occasion to girdle many of them
and observed that they were very easily killed.
Previously to this time I had lived in another
State where the soil is clay and the country
very hilly. Here the beech trees were very hard
to kill.

I remember a
neighbor's killing a tree that stood by the
roadside. He not only girdled it, but the boys
climbed the tree and cut off the branches a
little distance from the trunk. These were then
piled around the tree and burned. I wondered why
they were taking such radical steps to kill the
tree. The next spring I learned their reason. In
spite of all of this treatment the stubs of the
branches that had been cut off threw DUt new
branches and leafed out. The roots sprouted up
and with all their labor they had not
accomplished their purpose. The difference was
not in the climate; it must have been in the
soil.

We have already
pointed out that the "worry tree" grows in the
soil of doubt. We can hold an attitude ;hat is
favorable to worry, fear, and other things that
have unpleasant consequences. On the other hand
we can hold an attitude of faith that is
altogether unfavorable toward these things. In
order to destroy the "worry tree" we should
change the soil about its roots. We cannot
uproot it and destroy it by an act of our will..
We can take away its favorable oil. We can
develop faith. We can believe in God and in
ourselves. We can turn our eyes away from our
worries and our troubles and look upon God. We
can cease to fertilize the "worry tree." We can
cease to rob ourselves of our heritage of
victory willed to us by our heavenly Father.

We can have that
rest of soul God has promised us. We can find it
only in him. But as long as we permit all our
time to be occupied with giving attention to our
worries we shall have no time to give to the
cultivation of those other things that God would
freely develop in us that would give us
happiness and contentment. We so often cultivate
doubts instead of cultivating faith. It is
important that we learn how we are doing this,
and then adopt a different course. We can all
have faith if we will go about it right, and
faith is the victory that overcometh all of our
troubles.

One of the best
ways to get rid of worries is to ignore the
doubts upon which they are founded. Troubles let
alone have a way of curing themselves. As long
as we fill our brain with worry we increase our
trouble. The less we think about our troubles
the smaller they become. The more we think about
them the more rapidly they grow, and the less
capable we are of overcoming them, or meeting
them successfully.

The surest way to
get rid of the "worry tree" is to cut it down
with the ax of faith. There is no worry or fear
in trust. If I repeat this thought over and
over, it may sink deep into your heart and mind
and that is what you need. When you worry you do
not trust. When you trust you do not worry. You
cannot do both these at one time.

Permit me to
suggest a way to develop your faith. Take your
Bible and some paper. Write out a list of
promises, promises that meet your need. Read
these promises over every day. Read them until
they become real to you. Whenever you catch
yourself worrying or fearing, get those promises
and read them. Say after you read each one,
"This is true, and it means me." Say this over
and over until you come to believe it. Perhaps
at first your words will mock you. Perhaps the
promises will seem to mock you. I have had the
experience. I know how it feels. I know too from
personal experience that one can keep right at
it, reading these promises, asserting that they
are true, asserting that they mean us, until in
our own consciousness they do come to mean us.
They come to soothe and comfort us. They
neutralize our fears. Little by little we come
to trust in them, and as we trust we cease to
worry. Our fears grow less. We come into a
restful attitude. There is a sure cure for all
of our worries if we take it. That cure is an
attitude of simple trust in God and his
promises.

Worry is a mental
habit. Children do not worry, or if they do, it
is only momentarily. There is a natural
flexibility to the human mind that throws off
worry, until we rob it of its flexibility by
cultivating the habit of worrying. Any habit can
be broken, so the worry habit can be broken. If
you are troubled with worry, start in to break
yourself of it just as you would break yourself
of any other improper or hurtful habit. Worrying
is an extremely hurtful habit. It is an abnormal
mental state possible of correction and we owe
it to ourselves to correct it.

We cannot help
thoughts coming into our minds, but it is within
our power to direct our thoughts. We can repress
some of our thoughts. We can compel ourselves to
quit thinking along some lines. It is usually
easier to supplant improper thoughts with other
brighter, more cheerful thoughts. From a long
experience of suffering, confined to my bed,
with nothing to do, being in fact unable to do
anything, and having gone to the depths of
discouragement, after facing black despair for
months I learned the lesson of supplanting these
with better thoughts. I found that I must keep
my thoughts off myself; so I deliberately turned
my thoughts into other channels. Of course the
old gloomy thoughts reasserted themselves, but
as often as they came back I supplanted them
with something else, and finally broke myself
completely of the habit of worrying and of
thinking depressing thoughts.

One thing very
needful is the will not to worry. The power of
suggestion has a profound effect upon us. Our
thoughts have this power of suggestion. We can
suggest negative things to our mind, or we can
suggest positive things. We can suggest
discouraging things, or we can suggest
encouraging things. We can make our minds run in
the channel in which we choose for them to run.
Positive suggestion is the basis of a happy and
successful life. Make your thoughts help you,
rather than hinder you.

One trouble with
many people is that they are always resisting
something. They are always on the defensive.
This attitude of resistance toward our
circumstances nd surroundings places us under a
continuous strain. One writer has said, "Most
nervous patients are in a constant state of
muscular contraction; but a large percentage of
the things that harass and vex them, causing
them nervous tenseness, would cease to torture
them if they would simply stop resisting. It is
our perpetual resistance to annoying trifles
that gives them power to annoy us."

I do not advocate
surrender to circumstances. What we need is to
adjust ourselves to them. This constant revolt
against circumstances so common in many people
takes the joy out of their lives. It keeps them
under a perpetual strain. It uses up their
energy to no purpose. Do not use up your energy
resisting things. Displace the undesirable thing
by something else if that is possible. If not,
adjust yourself to it, make the best of it. Let
us use in these things as great intelligence as
we do in other things. When I am cold I do not
resist the cold; I seek warmth. When I am hungry
I do not resist hunger; I seek food. When I am
weary, I rest. When I am anxious or worried, I
turn to faith and trust. The Psalmist said,
"What time I am afraid I will trust in thee." He
had learned the secret of overcoming trouble.

The word "worry" is
not in the Bible. You may look for it from cover
to cover. You will not find it. Since God did
not see fit or think it necessary to use the
word "worry" in the Bible, or have it used, just
so it need not be in the Christian life. To be
sure the equivalent is in the Bible. We find
fear, trouble, and words of like nature, but we
are commanded not to be afraid, not to be
troubled.

Many people are
like those of whom the Psalmist speaks. They are
"in great fear, where no fear was" (Ps. 63: 5).
The margin says, "They feared a fear where no
fear was." Most of our troubles are imaginary,
or if there is real trouble we add much to it
through our imagination and fear. Some people
are so afraid of trouble that they are never at
rest. They are frightened at nothing; even as it
is written, "The sound of a shaken leaf shall
chase them" (Lev. 26: 36).

Listen to this
promise: "Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell
safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil"
(Prov. 1: 33). Here is the promise that God made
for us through Abraham, "That he would grant
unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand
of our enemies might serve him without fear, . .
. all the days of our life" (Luke 1: 74-75).

The experience of
the Psalmist may be our experience if we will do
as he did: "I sought the Lord, and he heard me,
and delivered me from all my fears" ( Ps. 34:
4). We shall also do well to hold an attitude
like that David held. He said, "The Lord is my
light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the
Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I
be afraid?" (Ps. 27:1). The result of holding
that attitude is stated in verse three, "Tho an
host should encamp against me, I my heart shall
not fear: tho war should rise against me, in
this will I be confident." Read also Ps. 46:
1-2. "God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble. Therefore will not we
fear, tho the earth h removed, and tho the
mountains be carried into the | midst of the
sea." Again, "In God I have put my trust; will
not fear what flesh can do unto me" (Ps. 56: 4).
The exhortation of Christ is, "Be not anxious"
(Matt. 6:25, American Standard Version). Read
also verses 81, 84; Luke 12: 25-26.

Jesus said, "Let
not your heart be troubled" (John 14:1). What
reason does he give that we should not be
troubled? He continues, "Ye believe in God." To
him that was sufficient reason for not worrying.
It ought to be sufficient reason to us. In verse
27 he says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I
give unto you.... Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Now, for a
concluding thought which we shall do well to
keep fresh in our minds. When we trust in and
obey God, whatever comes to us must come in his
will. It must come by his permission. It cannot
come without his knowledge. His watchful care is
ever over us. He will always keep us no matter
how many troubles come. Therefore if we abide in
him and his Word abide in us, we shall never
have cause to worry. We are safe and secure no
matter how threatening future or present
troubles may be. So cut down your worry tree
with the ax of faith and rest in full assurance
of faith in the righteousness and love of
God.